The Ramen Thief
by kyleoo145
Summary: It all started as a moment of weakness. A moment of hunger, but once he had stolen once he knew he could get away with it again. But if he could get away that, what else could he get away with? Making things disappear from here and there becomes a new passion that gets lost in the grey area between need and want.
1. Chapter 1

**The Ramen Thief**

**Chapter 1**

It's was a beautiful sight. Ramen, an entire wall of it just sitting there, and sitting right in front of said wall was a little blond boy eyeing it hungrily. He had been sitting here for ten minutes already, torturing himself with the sight of his favorite food. Unfortunately for him he didn't have any money. Well not anymore.

Silently he cursed himself for having spent all his money at Ichiraku last night. But it had been so good and he had been hungrier than normal and he wanted to keep talking with Ayame and her old man. So he had stayed and had some extra bowls of their ramen, the best ramen ever. But regardless now he didn't have any money for food and he didn't get his allowance until tomorrow afternoon.

Sighing to himself he just watched the unmoving ramen. It was getting close to dinner time and he could feel his hunger growing, gnawing at his stomach. He hadn't eaten all day and it was starting to catch up with him. He was downcast, understanding that there was nothing at home that could fill the void in his belly.

Reaching out he snagged one of the cup from the shelf and softly rolled it between his hands. Looking down at the little cup of heaven he mused that maybe he did have some money and had just missed it. Standing up he searched each of his pockets, one by one, but still came up empty. He double, then triple checked but his situation did not change.

Picking the ramen cup back up he closed his eyes and imagined eating it. He could taste it on his lips. But the phantom taste only lasted until he opened his eyes back up... as did his hunger. Then and there a part of him decided that he wanted the ramen, it didn't care that he had no money he wanted... no needed it. 'It isn't healthy not to eat right?' He reasoned with himself. Silently he contemplating putting it in his pocket.

But another part of him remembered the old man Hokage telling him that stealing was wrong. That people got in a lot of trouble for taking what wasn't theirs.

But that was rather hard for him to think about when his stomach was making such a fuss. Looking back at the cup in his hand, he compared it to the wall that was completely covered in ramen. There must be hundreds there, he couldn't help feeling no one would notice if one went missing.

Tentatively looking around, he found himself alone, with only the angel in his head and the devil in his stomach. But the more he thought about it the harder it was getting to fight against the devil. Taking another look up and down the aisle, he found himself still alone. Quickly tucking the cup in his largest pocket he turned and began making his way out of the store as casually as possible.

Everyone he passed hardly looked at him, he was just another person here for the food, but that's not how he felt. Though his stomach had won out he was still incredibly nervous. He flinch at every glance, his heart was beating so hard he thought others could hear it. At one point he almost tripped over his own feet when someone accidentally bumped into him.

As he approached the counter he couldn't help feel it was actually a guard station. The people working there analyzing his every move and just waiting for the right moment to catch him. One woman smiled at him and wished him a good day. He tried to smile back but it just didn't feel right. As he walked by he realized the pocket that he had placed the ramen in was facing the counter and was making an obvious bulge.

Not seeing any other option he continued on towards the door, just waiting to be called out and apprehended. For a moment, as he imagined himself being caught he saw a image in him mind. The old man Hokage looked down upon him, disappointment evident on his face. He could almost hear the man talk, telling him he would never be Hokage, he would be going to prison for the rest of his life, and right there his resolve almost broke, but when he became self aware again...

He already was outside. The dead done. The door rung shut behind him leaving him standing in the street as people walked by, not giving him a second thought. The sun was starting to set beyond the horizon and the air was beginning to cool.

And it hit him. He was out. Free. Or was he. Stealing a quick glance at the shop behind him he wasted no time and took off down the street as fast as his little feet could carry him. And while in his mind he was in the midst of a high speed chase, in reality, to everyone who saw him, he was just another kid running down the street. But for the moment, reality was distorted for him as paranoia took over.

Reaching his home he slammed the door behind him. He hid in the bathroom and waited.

And waited.

And continued waiting.

Even as the sun finished setting, leaving the little appartement dark, he continued waiting.

But no one came. There was no door being broken down, windows being kicked in, or shouts of the building being surrounded. And most importantly, to him anyways, there was no Hokage being disappointed in him. There was only the ramen. That was it. Pulling it out of his pocket he looked at the cup that had been causing his heart to race. Yet, that was all that was left. Just the ramen and his stomach.

Cautiously approaching the kitchen, he place the cup down and began preparing the water. Five minutes later he was sitting at his table slurping from the cup of noodles.

He wasn't going to be hungry tonight. He smiled. Uzumaki Naruto wasn't going to be hungry any nights.

XXX

**So this kinda popped into my head the other night and I couldn't get it out. It was just a little scene that I ended up liking. I have put some thought into it since and begun to formulate a story to go around it, but was hoping for some feed back. Like anything? Don't like anything? Please let me know, and if you have any ideas where I could go with it please let me know. I do plan on continuing this, so if you are interested in seeing future chapter then let me know, you have no idea how good it feels to have people take the time to comment on what you are doing(even if they say you are doing it wrong). I know this was pretty short, but I imaged this as a prologue of sorts. Just laying down the ground works.**

**If you made it this far, thanks for coming and have an awesome day!**


	2. Chapter 2

**The Ramen Thief**

**Chapter 2**

Naruto nervously fingered the strap on the backpack he wore as he passed through the streets. Normally you could never find the young blond walking anywhere, he was always moving at top speed. Today though was different. Today he was stepping up his actions against the grocery shop he shopped/stole at.

Ever since he had first stolen some ramen from this store a couple months ago, he had found he couldn't stop. It was so easy, the reward greatly outweighed the risk. But so far he had only taken a single cup every now and then. He didn't want to get caught even though by now he was confident that he wouldn't.

Unfortunately, that confidence was gone today. As the blond was currently on his way to that same little grocery shop, but with different plans. Strapped to his back was a backpack which, assuming everything went well today, would be filled with ramen without him having to spend a cent.

He had decided to step up his little thieving tenancies three days before while shopping around for some new clothes. He had found this really cool orange jumpsuit. It was a bit big for him, but it was so cool. The only problem was the price tag. Naruto didn't have nearly enough money to buy the new outfit. Up until now in his life he had always gone to second hand shops. They always had lots of good stuff and it was all so cheap, but now, now Naruto had set his sights set on the orange jumpsuit.

After much thought he had decided that if he wanted to buy the jumpsuit, which he didn't dare steal it, he was going to need to save up his money. Since he spent all his allowance every week he was going to have to cut down on his spending somewhere in order to save up for the jump suit.

In the end, this had led to Naruto deciding that he was going to start stealing more food. He figure that since he hadn't been caught up until now he could take more, as long as he was careful.

Hence the backpack he now sported. Turning the corner of the street he approached the grocery store, but did not enter. Standing a few feet from the door, he had frozen in place. Mentally kicking himself, he attempted to continue into the store, but he couldn't provide the will necessary to move.

His memory went back to the day he had first stolen from this store. It had been okay then because he was hungry. He needed food. But now could he take more for the sake of getting something he wanted? He didn't have an answer to that question, but it had been circling in his mind since he had set out on this course of action. Instead he turned away from such thoughts and instead focused on the plan. The plan!

The plan was simple. Go into the store on Tuesday around 15:00. Through past experience Naruto had found that this was when the shop was just busy enough for all the employees to be helping customers, but there were few enough people in the store for him to be alone with the ramen wall. Once he was in the store, sure he was alone and not going to be disturbed, he could fill his backpack with ramen. From there he would make his way out of the store. Simple and easy. Something he could do. No different from his other heists. He just needed a little more time to pack the ramen away and he would be good to go.

Going through the plan in his head one more time, he took a deep breath, opened the door, and entered. No turning back now!

Inside everything was exactly as he had hoped. The three people working the counter were all busy, there was a short line of people waiting to checkout, and only a few customers were roaming the aisles.

Making a beeline to his target, he approached the wall of ramen. Standing in front of it he took a moment to admire the sight before him. It was as beautiful as ever. Grasping one of the cup, he held it up and looked it over. Smiling to himself he began reaching for his backpack...

"Naruto?" But never made it, as he turned to confront the voice that had called his name. Coming down the aisle towards him was Ayame. A basket filled with groceries hung on her arm. She also was wearing normal clothes consisting of a blue shirt and grey pants.

Looking to the older girl, Naruto smiled widely, and even though he was now cracking on the inside, he didn't need to fake a smile for Ayame. "Hey Ayame, how're you doing?"

The brunette smiled back at the blond. "I'm fine Naruto. Grocery shopping are we?" She inquired. Nodding his head vigorously, Naruto gestured to the wall of ramen. Ayame came to stand next to him and joined him in observing his little slice of heaven. "Ah... Naruto, do you eat anything but ramen?"

"Of course not Ayame, it's the most awesome food ever." He cried at her. She could help but giggle, the way he had said it like a fact, not an opinion. "But don't worry Ayame, the ramen you guys make is still the best!"

Picking up one of the cups herself, she just couldn't imagine eating from it everyday. "Breakfast, lunch, and dinner?" She asked.

"Yep, pretty great isn't it?" The blond answered with stars in his eyes.

Sighing, Ayame placed the cup back on the shelf and turned to the younger boy, "Naruto you can't eat just ramen. It's very very unhealthy to do so."

The incoming criticism did not penetrate the boy's thick skin. He just glanced at her and tilted his head as he asked, "What do'ya mean unhealthy? I'm not fat."

His reply was a light slap on the head followed quickly by a lengthy explanation. Now normally Naruto wouldn't pay attention past the first sentence, but Ayame had already trained listening skills into him. After he had ignored her one too many times, she had started ignored him when he had tried to order ramen. Of course in the face of losing his ramen rights at Ichiriki he had capitulated quickly, but the incident had been imprinted into his head. "Being unhealthy doesn't necessarily mean you are fat. There is a whole range of health problems you can have that have nothing to do with the size of your body. What I meant when I said it is unhealthy to eat only ramen is that you aren't getting all the needed nutrients to properly grow and function. If you keep eating only ramen you will end up not only growing fat, but also short. Without a healthy diet you will not have the same amount of energy, you with have problems paying attention, you will get tired more easily, and won't be able to perform at your best..."

While Naruto was trying his best to give her his undivided attention he couldn't help but actually pick up on a few things that she had said. As an image of a short fat him appeared in his head he became a little frightened. If he became fat he wouldn't be able to fight, then he wouldn't be able to be a shinobi, then he couldn't be Hokage! His breathing picked up slightly in fear, but then he noticed some other parts of what she had said.

Trouble paying attention and staying awake? That was what happened everyday in the academy. Was that why he was having so much trouble?

While he had been pulled into a rare moment of self-reflection and thought, Ayame was starting to get a little worried. When she had finished her rant the blond had a blank look on his face, which at one point was replaced by one of worry before becoming thoughtful. "Ahh… Naruto?" she asked tentatively. She hadn't expected him to react so oddly. She had been expecting him to shout out defiance and proclaim how ramen wasn't bad. But as of yet, that hadn't happened.

"Hey Ayame… What do I have to eat if I can't eat ramen." He asked quietly, still looking contemplative.

Smiled at the fact that he at least acting receptive to her statement, she went on to explain to him the various food groups and how they helped his body. She also proposed regular exercise as an important part of a healthy lifestyle... "And you know Naruto you can still eat ramen, but just do it in moder, i mean, only every once in a while. Maybe every other day for lunch or something."

The blond nodded up to her. Truthfully he had only understood about half of what she had just told him. There had been a little too much information for him to absorb all at once. Plus, it had been long, which in and of itself had made things difficult for him, there had been lots of large word, difficult for him considering his age and limited vocabulary, and finally because he was hungry, with the wall of ramen right there… Ya he had had some difficulty listening.

But he had gotten the jist of it all. Eat better, exercise regularly, and most importantly drink lots of water, he had had to stop Ayame to ask what being hydrated was. While the blond did drink the broth from his ramen and milk every once in a while, he didn't drink much else. Apparently that was bad, very bad.

A part of him was telling him to heed Ayame's advice, but another was telling him it would be too hard. At this point in his life Naruto wasn't exactly known for anything other that lots of bark, but no bite…

Before he could resolve his internal struggle he was interrupted by his companion. The older girl hadn't been to sure how seriously he had taken any of this, but she had other things on her mind now. "Naruto, I have to go, my Mom's waiting for me to get home. I didn't realize how long I had talked." she blushed a little at that admission. "But I'll see you later."

She stood there waiting, and it took a moment for Naruto to realize she was expecting his to respond to her. Giving her a dazzling smile the blond thanked her, "Ok, I'll come by the stand to see you. Thanks for all that too." Content with his goodbye, she turned and waved as she left him alone in the aisle.

By himself again, he turned back to the ramen. His plan could still be implemented rather easily, but he was now conflicted by the issue of his diet and health. Sighing he resolved to solve that problem later, like so many others. After a quick scanning of his surroundings for observers he removed his backpack and quickly filled it with ramen. Not completely, he couldn't have his bag bulging and noticeable, but enough that it could feed him for some time. All in all it took him not even thirty seconds before he was on his way out of the aisle. Unfortunately for him, he had never thought to check for security cameras on any of his excursions to this store, and therefore missed the shiny black lens that diligently watched the entire store.

He approached the counter with little difficulty, but as he passed the box of apples he thought about what Ayame had told him. Trying his best not to slow a step, but still get what he wanted, he attempted to snag an apple from the box without diverting his eyes from the shop doors…

And proceeded to miss the apple.

Cursing to himself, he kept on moving ahead. He mentally made a note to work on his hand skills.

Though he had still been nervous throughout this most recent theft, he had over time developed a mask to hide it, even if it hadn't seemed so at the start of his little adventure today. Walking down the street in the direction of his apartment, he took the time to think over the large decision before him.

By the time he entered his apartment and had made his first cup of ramen he had his answer. Looking into his cup, he slurped it down fast and began making the next. He would savor it while he could. Soon, he wasn't going to be eating much ramen.

XXX

**So here is the second installment. Pretty slow, but it provides a few important points that will be big later on. This chapter is about double what my last one was, and I plan to continue a similar trend of increasing the length for each one. Anyways, this one show Naruto stepping up his game a little, while also introducing Ayame and of course Ramen. His diet will be playing into some later chapter so watch for it. If you have any ideas I would love to hear them, I'm still doing a lot of brainstorming for the plot, and while I have the basic picture down in my head, I am definitely willing to alter it if anyone has any good ideas. For anyone wondering, I never liked the idea some other author use that Naruto had to wear the orange jumpsuit because he couldn't afford anything else. In my mind it's quite obvious that he likes it, so I thought it was a great moving bringing it into the story as a reason for him stealing more. if you made it this far, thanks for coming and have an awesome day!**


	3. Chapter 3

****The Ramen Thief****

****Chapter 3****

"Thanks for coming in. Have a good day." The woman behind the counter called out warmly. The blond she had spoken to returned her farewell with a smile and wave of the hand. Opening the door to the outside world, the boy was blasted by a cold breeze. Not at all deterred, he continued outside. The door closed softly behind him as he started towards his apartment.

Dressed in a jacket and pants, Naruto made his way home in order to deliver his most recent theft. Removing his hand from his jacket pocket, an apple appeared. Taking a bite out of the sweet fruit, he enjoyed the juice that dripped down his chin. He had been practicing grabbing things in the academy. Take a pencil here, and book there without their owners, who were often sitting right next to them, noticing. Sure he had been caught a few times, but with a few apologetic words and some time avoiding that person for a while it was all forgetten quickly. Now that practice was paying off, seen by the apple he was now munching on. Between said fruit and his backpack filled with ramen, he was a happy boy.

It had been a few weeks since he had made his first take with the help of his backpack and had that chat with Ayame about his health. He had in fact decided to change his diet to a more healthy one, and had even went out the next day to see what he should get. Unfortunately for him, eating healthy is expensive. At least for the amount that would actually fill him up during each meal. He has quite the appetite for his age.

While this new meal plan could be something he could afford, thanks to a combination of theft and his allowance, he was still trying to save up money for that orange jumpsuit. In the end, when he had to decide on his priorities, he had deemed the jumpsuit more important than the food. So, until he was able to acquire that outfit, he would be sustaining himself on ramen. Not that he was complaining, he still loved ramen.

Besides, it was almost winter, the temperature was cooling and the weather was shifting. That jumpsuit was really warm and would help him out. He had already saved about half of the money he needed, so it really wasn't that far off.

Pulling a metal water bottle from a side pocket of the backpack out, he took a deep sip of water before replacing it. While it had been too expensive to jump right into a complete overhaul of his diet, there was still a few things he could tweak such as drinking more water and snacking on fruit. He did have two more apples in his pocket.

Climbing up the steps of his apartment building he walked down the hall and approached his door. Using his free hand to retrieve the key from his pocket, he opened the door and entered. Looking across the room to the trash can he lined up the his arm and threw the apple core at the bin. It soared through the air, bounced off the wall, and landing in the trash. Grinning after his perfect shot, the blond turned to close his apartment door, but didn't get the chance.

There standing in the doorway was an imposing man. He sneered down at Naruto as he stepped into the room and slammed the door behind himself. Taking a step back Naruto tried to create some distance between himself and the man, but his step was matched. Slowly he was backing in the wall at the other end of the apartment, but the man kept coming until there was no room left between them.

With that sneer still implanted on his face, the man roughly lifted the blond by the collar and slammed his small body into the wall. His head collided with the wall harshly. Coughing from the rough treatment, Naruto wasn't sure what to do. "What do you want?" He sputtered as he looked up at the man's face. Bloodshot eyes looked back at him intently.

"What do I want brat?" but he stopped for a moment and broke down into a fit of coughing. After recovering he turned his attention back to Naruto. "You've been taking things that aren't your and I'm here to beat that out of you." He smashed his fist into Naruto's face, there was sickening crunch as his nose broke. "Little shit, gonna pay dearly fo-for your offence." And a knee connected to Naruto's chest leaving him winded.

With the sudden rush of pain, Naruto's head was spinning and blood was flowing from his nose. His vision was blurry and his lung were on fire as he desperately tried to breath, but was only able to get shuddered breaths. Suddenly he became aware of gravity once more taking over as the man released him. After crashing into the floor he curled into a fetal position and tried to steady his own breathing. But he was roughly pulled open. He could feel a hand rummaging through his pockets and his frog wallet was ripped from him. The man standing over him, smiled as he counted the money he had just acquired. "This'll get me a few more hits." he mumbled to himself as he turned to the rest of the apartment.

The blond could hear the man smashing around his apartment, but he didn't protest or move not wanting to draw the man's attention back to him. Meanwhile the stranger was systematically destroying the apartment. Breaking cabinets and drawers, slashing up the bed with a knife, and thrashing the appliances. It took no longer than five minutes for the man to leave the apartment a wreck after which he approached now crying boy once more.

Naruto could feel the man standing above him, but he didn't move. Silently he prayed that the guy could just leave, but those prayers were left unanswered as a shoe dug into his ribs. "Stupid little shit!" he coughed again. "But it's too late now, I'm gonna…"

He was interrupted by a knocking on the door. "This is the Konoha police, open the door!" followed by more pounding. A curse passed over the man's lips as he turned away from the boy and made for the window. Picking up what remained of a dining chair, he smashed the window open and jumped out.

Upon hearing the breaking glass, the door was kicked down. The officer quickly moved to the window and was about to pursue the culprit when he heard a low moan. Turning to the corner he spotted the shaking body of a little blond boy. Stuck with the split second decision of giving chase or checking on the boy forced the officer to waste valuable time. When he looked back out the window he found that the man had made his escape and was now no where to be seen.

Not wasting anytime worrying about the escaping criminal, he moved to the boy. The blond was barely conscious and his face was covered with blood. A quick check showed that it was only coming from his nose. Standing up, the officer pulled out his radio and reported the incident in before scooping the boy up and taking him to the hospital.

XXX

"uhhh…" Naruto groaned. His head turned back and forth as his mind slowly roused him. The blonds head was throbbing, check that, his whole body was sore. Reaching his arm up, he rubbed the sleep from his eyes and attempted to sit up. He didn't make it far as his chest was filled with pain. Relinquishing his effort he let his body fall back into the embrace of the bed.

"Ahh!" the exclamation from the boy roused the person in the bed next to his own. The man, whose right arm was in a cast fumbled with a remote as he attempted to use his left. After a moment of struggling he successfully pushed the red button at the top of the remote. His task done, he laid back down.

A minute later a nurse entered the room and approached the bed of the man who had called for help, but was stopped when he gestured to the bed that Naruto was in. Changing course, the woman approached the blond.

Naruto wasn't aware of any of this, he was too busy trying to comprehend why he was here and why he hurt so badly. "Good afternoon, Uzumaki. How are you feeling today?" The question broke him out of his own little world. After a quick search of his surroundings, he found himself facing the nurse, who was now reading a clipboard in hand while she waited for his response.

"Aahh… My body hurts." was his response.

The nurse nodded while not looking up from the clipboard. "Can you describe where you are feeling pain and to what degree?" She asked while looking up and giving him an encouraging smile.

"My head. It feels like, Uhhh, it hurts. And my chest hurt a lot when I tried to move and breath. Wha-what happened." he asked, he reached up and touched his nose, but quickly pulled away.

The nurse took a moment to write down a few more notes before returning her attention to him. "An police officer brought you in yesterday. He did not explain the cause of your injuries. A doctor examined you and found that you have a fractured rib. This will make movement and breathing painful for the time being. Thankfully there was no damage to your internal organs, but it will still take approximately four weeks for you to heal fully. Now that you are awake we will be able to start administering pain-relievers for you. But during your examination the doctor found evidence of a possible head injury. After further examination it was deduced that you also suffered a concussion. You will likely have a headache for the next week, but there are many other possible symptoms. Let us know if there are any abnormalities in how you are feeling. You also have a nasal fracture this'll make it even more difficult to breath for the time being, but luckily it would need any surgery. Do you have any questions?"

Naruto just stared at her blankly while wondering what the heck had happened, but then his stomach made itself known with a loud rumble. Scratching his cheek out of embarrassment, he gave a little laugh, but stopped promptly when his chest exploded in pain.

Looking over her shoulder to the clock above the door to evaluate the time, she turned back to the boy and addressed his newest issue. "Its a bit past lunch time, but i'm sure I can get you something to eat. I be back in a few minutes. I'll bring some pain relievers with me too. Is there anything else I can get you?" she asked.

Shaking his head, she nodded in response and moved to the next bed in the room. Left alone to his own devises, the blond wasn't sure what to do. Hoping to find something in the room to relieve what he knew to be pending boredom, he shifted his head and looked around. The room had four beds in it, one in each corner. From the door his bed was on the far right hand corner. To his left was a man whose arm was being held up in a cast, he appeared to be asleep. The bed in front of naruto was currently empty, while the last remaining one, diagonal from him was surrounded by curtains. The walls were all white and undecorated. It felt very empty to the young boy, but having never been to this part of the hospital before he didn't know what to expect.

Returning his gaze to the ceiling he couldn't help but quickly grow bored...

Seemingly out of no where a cart appeared beside his bed. Realizing his mind had drifted off, he quickly turned his attention outward. Standing behind the cart was the same nurse from before. Moving to stand beside him, she helped him sit up, a painful process. She then placed a tray over his lap. She was about to leave when he stopped her.

"Thanks for the food and all…" he was eyeing the sandwich wearily, "But what's there to do here?"

The nurse turned back to him and smiled. "To keep you entertained we have a variety of things we can bring you. We work with the library to allow you access to a large assortment of books. We also have a lot of magazine and puzzle books. During the day family and friends can visit you. There are also many programs where you can interact with other patients to talk and play games. For someone your age we can acquire your work from school so you can keep up. Do any of these interest you?"

Like that Naruto was put off. Nothing she had said had sounded interesting. He hated reading, was no good at puzzles, had no one who would want to visit him, and didn't know anyone who was in the hospital. Putting on a brave face, he smiled at the nurse and replied, "Not really, thanks though."

The nurse nodded and left the room. Now alone with only his food, the blond wasn't sure what to do. Carefully pulling the top piece of bread off he found a variety of foods that he didn't recognize. There was so cold meat, green leafy things, and red round things. Covering it all was a big slice of cheese. Placing the bread back, he stared at it for awhile, while debating with himself if he should eat it or not, but like so many other times he stomach was winning the argument. He was hungry and there was food in front of him. Even if he was busy telling himself that he wasn't going to like it.

Picking it up tentatively, he brought it up to his mouth and took a bite. Chewing slowly and swallowing, he grimaced and placed the sandwich down. He had been right, it wasn't good. Looking around, he found that the nurse wasn't there and he had no idea how to get ahold of her. Suddenly he felt very lonely. This wasn't uncommon for him. He would often get this feeling, but didn't dwell on it for long as he could just busy himself doing something. But now, there wasn't anything to do. He was confined, trapped in this bed and there was nothing…

Looking back down at the sandwich, he set to work taking it apart just to busy himself. Laying each part in its own pile. He ended up with to pieces of bread, a pile of leaves, a stack of meat, column of red discs. He then proceeded to eat them all piece by piece, until he reached the red circles, which he determined he didn't like.

Finished with his odd meal, he was left sitting there again… Alone.

**XXX**

****So I guess this is the beginning of Naruto's real development as a thief. He will be pulled into the world of crime from here on out. A little longer than the last chapter, which will hopefully continue. Would really like some comments on this chapter. Also any ideas for future plots of stories would be helpful.****

****If you made it this far then thanks and have a good day.****

****11/16/2014- haha accidently made the whole thing bold, sorry bout that.****


	4. Chapter 4

**The Ramen Thief**

**Chapter 4**

The elegant swish of a pen was the only thing that was audible in the room. Behind a large wooden desk sat an old man as he filled out paperwork. He wasn't just any old man though, he was one of the most important men in all of the elemental nations, the Hokage. But that didn't not excuse him from his work. He was a hard working man. In at seven every morning. From there it was straight to his office and his paper work. Sure it wasn't enjoyable, but after decades of experience he knew it was best to get it out of the way first thing. While he did work hard he had many responsibilities.

The paperwork that he attendant to had already filtered through dozens of underlings before it reached him. Being a major military village there were hundreds of reports everyday ranging from mission reports and requests, supply statements, political letters, and so on. But being the Hokage, he only ever actually dealt with the most important documents. Even some top secret work was deemed unimportant enough to go to the Hokage.

Coming to a rather important piece of paper, the elder took his time to read it in its entirety. Satisfied with the contract in his hand, he drew his pen and signed the paper. With a final swish of his signature it was done. Gently lifting it and placing it in the _OUT_ box, the elderly man capped his pen and leaned back with a smile. He had just completed the contract with the company that supplied Konoha with power, it was going to be a warm winter.

Reaching over to the last two papers in the _IN _box, he lifted them gently. Without even reading them he already knew what they entailed. He had specifically asked for them to be brought to him personally. The one on his left was the medical report for one Uzumaki Naruto. The one on the right was the report from the police department regarding their investigation into his assault. It had been a week since the incident had occurred.

Reading the medical one first, he was pleased to find Naruto was recover faster than expected. He was moving around with assistance and was no longer having any difficulty breathing. The doctor in charge of him was surprised by his rate of recovery and had adjusted his time of release from five weeks to four weeks. The boy had been a bit unruly so far, but the leader hadn't expected anything less from the young boy. There was also mention that Naruto had begun recovering some memories of the affair and that this information had been forwarded to the police, whom had been wanting to interview Naruto.

Moving onto the second report, he found himself unimpressed. Naruto's apartment had been thoroughly destroyed, the culprit, who had been identified, had not yet been found, and the motivation behind the whole thing was still unclear.

Sighing to himself, he was uncertain what to think of the whole ordeal. But with no personal knowledge of anything that had happened he would leave it to the police, even if some of them were currently under suspicion of treason, but he'd keep that to himself for now. Quickly placing those two papers in the _OUT_ bin, he stood from his chair. After a quick stretch that left his back feeling relieved, he made for the door. Idly he noticed the clock on the wall. _8:17_. An hour and seventy minutes to finish his daily paperwork, not bad he mused. He might have time to visit Naruto later in the day. He had yet to do so and it would probably do the boy good to have a visitor.

XXX

Shocker, Naruto was bored. He had just gotten his daily visit from the doctor that was overseeing his recovery. It bothered the boy that the doctor kept talking about how amazing it was that he was healing as quickly as he was. As far as he was concerned he felt pretty normal. Sure the pain wasn't as intense, but he still hurt, plus his nose kept bleeding at random times. Yet somehow in all of that he was supposed to be amazing.

Turning to the stack of books on the stand next to him, he reluctantly picked one up. Though he hated every second of it he proceeded to read, not out of enjoyment, but to make the time go faster. He had gone through all the activities that they offered here, but nothing had caught his fancy. Reading was, but simply, the least unenjoyable thing he could do.

He had also been planning. Considering he had nothing to do but sit around, and he couldn't read forever, he had found himself fantasizing about new and daring heists he could pull off. Most centered around how he could get that new outfit and get away with wearing it. Ever since his memory had cleared he could remember having his wallet stolen, along with all of the money he had been saving up for that cool jumpsuit.

Now broke, he was going to have to come up with a new way of acquiring the jumpsuit. He had of course thought of just waiting, while he tried to save up the money, but found the idea unacceptable. He had already tried that and it hadn't worked out. Now he was thinking about how to use his new skills to get ahold of that set of clothes.

Surprising himself, he had already worked through a few plans in his head. He would have to do some scouting to confirm them, but they all seemed to be valid ideas. What surprised him was the fact that he was thinking clearly. Now that may sound odd, but for Naruto, it was an unusual occurrence. Usually he got distracted or interrupted or something and wasn't able to fully think through thing before he was forced to act or forget about them. But here in the hospital where he wasn't able to move and had no one to talk to, he felt an odd sense of peace come over him. There was nothing impending that he knew he was going to have to do or worry about. There was just he, himself, and his bed. And while he couldn't say the situation was comfortable, it was at least peaceful.

But going back to his plans to steal the orange clothes, he was stumped by one thing in particular. He was now confident in his ability to get the clothes, but he wasn't sure what to do from there. If we were to wear them and someone was to notice, they would be able to figure out that he hadn't bought them for himself. And if he didn't get them for himself then someone might figure out how he really got them.

This problem frustrated him to no end, which would read him to when he got tired of reading he would go back to thinking about this problem. Again frustrated, he picked up his book.

After a dozen different books he had finally found one that interested him vaguely. It was a detective book that followed the pursuits of a young man that investigated crimes. It was nothing fancy or in depth, really just a kids book, Naruto is still young. But it did introduce the young boy to a variety of different criminal activities, from purse snatchers to bank robbers.

Quietly reading he was interrupted when the door to the room opened. Looking up, a smile instantly found its way onto his face when he saw the Hokage enter the room. Tossing his book of to the side, he was about to move to meet the old man, but his efforts were defeated by his injuries. But the discomfort was only temporary, as his excitement made the pain seem distant and unimportant. "Heya old man! How's it going?"

The 'old man' smiled at the boy and pulled a chair up to his bed. "I'm doing fine Naruto. I'm sorry for taking so long to visit you, the job keeps me busy." he responded apologetically.

The boy just waved it off, "I'm just happy that you did come. Better late than never right! Anyways, what kind of cool ninja stuff have you been doing?"

The Hokage placed a bag on the bed before responding to the inquisitive youth who was almost bouncing up and down on the bed. "Well nothing too exciting. As Hokage I don't go out and seek adventure like you young people do. I just do the important stuff, you know sign paper, give out missions, talk to dignitaries-"

"UHHH boring, why do you bother with that stuff. You're like super strong and the Hokage, why not just do what you wanna do? You could just make others do that boring stuff while you have fun."

The elder gave a little chuckle, he had answered this question from Naruto many times before, but Naruto was still too young to understand the scope of the responsibilities that came with being leader. "I do do fun stuf-"

Naruto broke out laughing, "Old man, you said dodo!"

The hokage didn't partake in the younger's laughing. The immaturity of the blond was high, but that was something that only time and experience would change. He could wait, some day Naruto would grow up and see the world in a different light.

When the boy calmed down, the hokage started over, "As i was saying, I do do," Naruto giggled, but was able to contain himself from a full outburst, "fun stuff, its just not anything you would enjoy. I visit my grandson Konohamaru, train to keep my skills up, and enjoy the company of my many friends. But with this hat comes many responsibilities that I have to attend to before I can do what I want."

Naruto just rolled his eyes. "Whatever you say old man." And like that his attention moved to the bag that had been placed on his bed, "What that?"

"This?" the Hokage lift up the bag, "Oh this is nothing important. I just noticed that it was almost lunch time when I was on my way here and thought you might appreciate some food, so I stopped by a certain ramen shop…" He left the end hanging in the air, but didn't have to wait long for the young blond to pick up the hint.

Upon hearing what the Hokage had said, Naruto's eyes went wide. He hadn't had ramen in a week. It had been a strange transition for him. Going from eating that heavenly food at every meal, to not having it at all. It had been hard at first, but Naruto had quickly come to realize that there were a lot of other good food out their. He had tried many new things so far in his hospital stay. It had made him realize how easily he could transition his diet like he had talked to Ayame about. Maybe this whole incident would have a few bright moments come from it? But even if he was experiencing new food, some that he liked a lot, some that were terrible, ramen was still the best.

With that, Naruto's hand shot out to grab the bag from the old man, but right when he was about to grab it,the bag was pulled out of his reach. Confusion colored his face for a moment before he looked to the Hokage. "Manners Naruto. You can't just take thing from people without asking. That rude."

Upon hearing that from the Hokage Naruto's expression changed to one of shame. The old man, saw this and quickly moved to rectify the situation. He didn't expect naruto to be so affected by not getting his ramen. Little did he know, the truth behind Naruto's shame was much deeper. And while it may also be root in ramen, it was a bit darker in nature.

"All you have to do is ask politely Naruto." he said kindly and while it looked to him like the boy's mood lifted, that was far from the truth. Internally, Naruto was now more conflicted than ever, but just as he had learned to hide his nervousness while in the midst of a heist, he too hid his current feelings. He resolved to think about this later, now wasn't the time.

"Can I please have some ramen, old man?" He asked in the polite voice that the Hokage had drilled into him.

The elder smiled down at him and nodded his head. "Oh course you can Naruto, thank you for asking so nicely." He opened the bag and brought out a bowl of ramen.

Naruto carefully took it from the Hokage and secured it in his lap before he lifted the lip from it. Taking the offered eating utensils, he looked back to the old man before he dug in. "Thanks for the Ramen old man." And with that he started eating, but the pace was much slower than normal. For one thing, he didn't know when he would next be having ramen and was therefore determined to savor this bowl. And for another, if he were to scarf it down, he would probably get another talk about manners from the Hokage.

While Naruto made his way through the bowl of ramen, the Third waited patiently by his side. He had eaten before coming, not being such a fan of ramen as Naruto. He was glad to see the boy seemed to be doing fine since the whole affair had taken place, but a part of him was worried that he would suffer some mental trauma after the attack. He made a quick note to himself to have the boy visit a psychologist after he got out of the hospital. Considering Konoha was a military village, they had many such people working there do to the mental stress of many of the darker aspects of the job.

"Hey old man! What're you thinkin bout?" Naruto's voice pulled him from his musing. At some point Naruto had finished his ramen had notice that the Hokage seemed to be in deep thought while staring at him.

"Nothing important Naruto." the Third lied effortlessly. "How was the ramen?" he asked, quickly changing the subject.

"It was awesome! That again for bringin it for me. I haven't had any in soooo long!" Naruto voiced enthusiastically.

"Good, now before I have to go I wanted to ask you a few question about wha-" But before he could finish he was interrupted by a nurse who opened the door and entered.

"Pardon my intrusion Hokage-sama, but the police chief is here to see you two." The woman stated with a bow. She then stepped aside as a man entered the room from behind her.

"Ahh, Fugaku, how are you today." The Third asked as the chief approached the bed.

"I am doing well Hokage-sama." came the sharp reply as he stood at attention at the other side of the bed.

The Hokage turned to Naruto who was eyeing the new man nervously, "Naruto, this is Uchiha Fugaku, he is the chief of police here in Konoha. He is also the leader of the Uchiha clan. He makes sure the streets remain safe and is attempting to catch the man who attacked you."

"It is a pleasure to mean you Uzumaki. I have heard many things about you from my son Sasuke. He says you are an interesting boy." The Uchiha stated without moving a muscle.

The blonds eyes went wide at all the information was placed before him. Not only was he meeting the police chief, the guys who was out to stop criminals like himself, but he was Sasuke's father too. Reaching back and scratching his head nervously, Naruto tried his best to bow to the man, but found his motion was rather restricted due to his injuries. "Hello, sir. It's nice to meet you." he said as calmly as possible.

Happy that the introductions had gone well, the Third turned back to the chief, "I'm sure you aren't here just to visit, now that you are aquated, what can I do for you today?"

Moving straight to business, Fugaku produce a small binder from under his arm and handed it to the Hokage. "You asked me to deliver the case files for the last month to you personally. I also saw this as an opportunity to judge the condition of Uzumaki here to determine if we would like to have him come in for a more thorough questioning, when he is released from the hospital of course."

The Hokage nodded in understanding as he accepted the binder from the police chief, while Naruto was left baffle. He made his confusion known promptly, "Wait, you'll super important, why'd _you _come?"

This made Fugaku smile as he looked down at Naruto, "That is an astute observation Uzumaki, basically, without getting too detailed, the man who assaulted you is a low level enforcer for the Yusamari criminal organization. Over the last three months they have been attempting to establish themselves here in Konoha. We, the police, have been making it difficult from them, but unfortunately, it will take time to fully uncover their organization and force them out. To do this, we have been slowly chronicling everyone we can find that is a part of their group. The officer who brought you to the hospital was following that enforcer in order to identify more members, but that ended up breaking do-"

Through the lengthy explanation, one thing had caught Naruto's attention, and he couldn't help interrupting, "Wait! If you knew he was a criminal, why did you not do something to him?"

Both of the older men immediately identified the underlying question and understood why the boy felt this way, but Fugaku was not swayed, "While it is true that we did know who he was, he meant nothing to us dead or in custody. If he was killed he would just have been replaced, and his he was brought in, nothing would come of it as he is to low to have any valuable information. It was best for us to take advantage of his inabilities and identify his superiors and keep moving up from there."

The chief may have explained it for him, but Naruto still didn't really understand it. If they had just done something then he would have never been attacked. But he nodded his head anyways, only to realize that his question hadn't been answered. "Wait again, you still didn't answer my question."

"Right, my apologies I got rather caught up in explaining the big picture didn't I. I'm here because the story of a child being attack in his home has spread quickly and upset a lot of people. Due to this, we are talking a keen interest in your case in order to restore confidence in parents." He explained.

"So people know what happened to me?" Naruto asked curiously.

But Fugaku shook his head, "Not you specifically, but the rumor that 'a child was attacked in their own home and had to be hospitalized' has spread and is angering many parents."

"Oh." was the blond's dull reply. He had kinda been hoping that this had brought attention to himself, but that bubble had been burst just as quickly as it had been formed. "So then how can I help you?"

"I just wanted to go over what happened to you from your point of view. It will help fill in the holes that we have."

Naruto nodded his head and recounted his side of what happened. There wasn't a ton to tell. Man entered his apartment, man attacked him, man destroyed apartment, and stole his wallet. That was that. Not to much to it.

"Hmm, sounds like a mugging, but why follow you home and destroy your apartment?" the chief mused as he recorded Naruto's story. "Thank you very much, that's all I need for now. I would I to have you come in to the station when you are released from the hospital." Naruto nodded his head and Fugaku smiled.

The hokage had been watching the whole interaction carefully and was pleased that everything had gone so smoothly. He had worried that Naruto wouldn't react well when recalling how events had unfolded, but those thoughts seemed to be unfounded. meanwhile, Fugaku seemed genuinely concerned for bringing the criminal to justice, but he would continue to keep a close eye on the Chief. "Is that all Fugaku?"

"Yes Hokage-sama and unless you have another matter you wish to discuss I shall take my leave." Fugaku replied as he placed his notebook in his pocket. The Third gave him a slight nod, that the Chief returned it with a bow. He then made his way out of the room.

Once again alone with Naruto, the Hokage turned to the boy and found him in thought. Looking to the clock, he noticed that it was time for him to move on as well, so with a quick goodbye from naruto, he was off.

The blond, who, although sad to see the old man leave, was relieved at the same time. He had felt dirty in the man's presence. And although he was sure that the hokage had no idea what he had been up to, he was still feeling a part of him that was being gnawed on by guilt.

Sigh, he lied back down and closed his eyes. He felt unusually tired for himself, especially considering it was just after lunch time.

He yawned. Maybe a nap would help resolve his inner turmoil…

XXX

**Well there it is, the longest chapter yet. Pretty slow going, but whatever it's all part of the big picture, and I'd hate to have to do flashbacks instead. I'm just continuing to set up a lot of the events that are to come. Next chapter will finish up Naruto's time in the hospital, while the one after that will have him in the police station and doing his first big job, in his mind anyways. Also, brought Fugaku into the story. He kinda has a really bad reputation in fanfiction (terrible father, terrible husband, generally an evil man) but I've never really seem any of that in him so I ain't going with it.**

**Started explaining why it was that Naruto was attacked. There is still more to it that will be flushed out next chapter. I had kinda expected someone to flip out from that scene, but I guess all the stories about Naruto being beaten as a child has desensitized us to that.**

**I'm really happy with how everything about the stories is progressing. I'm doing a good job update, people are reviewing, and overall its been enjoyable. **

**Sorry for anyone who feels things are progressing slowly, but I plan to make this rather lengthy and all stories have to start somewhere right? Also, one of the problems I found with my other stories is that i jumped right into the thick of things, but then realized that everything was proceeding so fast I was missing a lot. And for anyone worried that Naruto isn't doing anything 'thiefy' enough, well you'll just have to be patient, I'm going to have to work up to it.**

**Anyways, please review, it lets me know a lot better what people are thinking. I would rather have one review that one hundred view. Its just so much more personal and nice to see, even if its someone telling me what I'm doing wrong(and hopefully what I'm doing write). **

**Anyways, if you have any advice, suggestions, ideas, or anything at all please leave them, I would love to hear what other think and see if there is a direction that I'm completely missing.**

**If you made it this far then thanks and have a good day.**


	5. Chapter 5

****The Ramen Thief****

****Chapter 5****

"What! Old Man, I can't pay for that!" Naruto screamed furiously. He opened his mouth to continue, but a hard look from the Hokage kept it shut.

The Third had known that this was going to be difficult on Naruto, but had hoped that he would get a chance to explain before the boy freaked out. Unfortunately that wasn't to be the case. Now he was going to have to deal with an emotional person. Seeing that the boy was waiting for him to speak, he did so, "Look Naruto, I'm sorry, I really am, but the village can't just hand out money to everyone that has problems. I understand this is going to make life more difficult for you for a while, but look at this as a challenge. Difficult times affect us all, but we can't let them keep us down." He said as he tried to put a positive spin on it.

Naruto was not impressed, "You're telling me I have to pay to repair my home and you want me to look at it as a challenge? This isn't funny! It'll take me months, or years to have everything fixed up!"

"Yes, that is what I'm telling you Naruto." The Third replied. He knew it was harsh and that Naruto didn't really deserve it, but the truth of the matter was, the boy was an orphan. Special conditions had already been made so that he could live on his own as opposed to at the orphanage, and like he had already said, the village couldn't give handouts to people, especially those that don't do anything for it. Sure his parents had left him some money, but being a shinobi isn't a lucrative career and that money had been used to cover the cost of him living through those first few years.

"What about my allowance, I've been in the hospital. Do I get it all when I get out?" He asked eagerly, hoping that just maybe he would have a large sum waiting for him when he was getting out.

The Hokage sighed as he gave Naruto more bad news, "I'm sorry Naruto, but no." The boy looked like he was about to protest again, but didn't get the chance as the Hokage cut him off. "That money is going to pay for your medical bills. Going to hospital is expensive. In fact the cost of you being here is more than all your missed allowance added up, the village is covering the rest of your bill. Unless you want to pay for that as well?"

Meanwhile, Naruto was thinking about how unfair this was. "I didn't do anything wrong though. Why does this have to happen to me!" he shouted at the elder.

"Life is unfair Naruto. It happens all the time, people who do not do anything to deserve it get the raw end of things and have to live with them. Bad things happen in this world, no one can change that." The man replied coldly. He really didn't mean to be harsh, but years of experience as a shinobi were hard for him to ignore. He had seen and done horrible thing to many people, some who didn't deserve it others that did, but in the end, the village had come above all else and that was why he was the Hokage now.

For Naruto that was a far more profound statement. And something began stirring in his head. A new idea that was implanted there by the Hokage himself. Bad things happen and you have to deal with them. You may not have deserved them, but they still happened.

He smiled. The Hokage was a bit confused by this reaction, but waited for the boy to respond. "I get it now Old Man. Don't worry about me." Naruto stated confidentially. It worried the Third a little at the boy's sudden change in point of view, but he didn't question it. Standing from his chair, he made his way to the door. He had saved this topic for the end of his visit for a reason.

"It was nice to see you again Naruto." He called to the boy sincerely. The blond waved back to him in his own farewell as he left the room.

With the Hokage now gone, Naruto had time to think over what the old man had said and the picture that was coming to him was what was making him smile. It all came down to the fact that bad things happen to people, even if they didn't deserve it. Well if the Hokage didn't seem to care about Naruto's misfortune, then why should Naruto worry about the misfortune of those that he stole from? Suddenly the confusion and shame he felt for stealing began to wash away.

Oh, he was going to accept the challenge of repairing and refurbish his apartment and he wasn't going to spend a cent!

XXX

"What do you mean the last book is checked out!?" A certain blond shouted at the nurse in outrage.

She just sighed and told him the exact same thing she had said the last three times he had asked. "I'm sorry Naruto, but there are only two copies of that book in the library and both are checked out. The only thing you can do about it is wait until they are brought back in." with that she began making to way to the door, but as a final thought turned back to the boy, "And please don't shout. You are in a hospital, many people are trying to rest." she gestured to the man in the bed next to him who was indeed sleeping. "Also someone new is going to be moved in here from surgery, please don't be rude to him."

The blond stuck his tongue out at the lady as she left, but she never looked back to see it. Crossing his arms and pouting the boy muttered to himself about stupid nurses that didn't understand his predicament. Now he had nothing to do but sit, wait, and think.

He had one week to go before he was allowed to leave, which irritated him to no end. He was starting to go crazy with how long he had been trapped in this building. And to make matters worse he felt absolutely fine. Even the doctor said he seemed fine and fully healed, but had decided to keep him around just to make sure.

Not only that, but the last book in the series, that detective book he had started reading a few weeks ago, wasn't in the library! Though he would still claim that he hated reading and only read those books for something to do, deep down he had found them enjoyable and grew excited every time he was brought the next one. Again, not that he would admit it.

It had helped that the Old Man had visited a few times. Sure Naruto would have liked him to come around more, but the Hokage always said he was very busy. Plus after that one visit, things had been a little awkward between them. In the end, the blond was left alone for the time, which had the adverse effect of making Naruto find his own ways of entertaining himself. A while ago, he would have been the type to yell about him boredom and complain to others, chiefly the nurses, about the lack of entertaining activities. But now, though he still tended to complain, he had come to the conclusion that he would have to be the one to find things to entertain him with. Others had proven unreliable, shown when the nurse wasn't able to get the book he wanted, he would have to do this himself.

So he had come up with a variety games that he played with himself. They weren't the best or all that fun, but they did get him going and helped him make the time go by. Determining what he was going to do, be grabbed the pad of paper from next to him and began scribbling. He didn't pay any attention to the lines and curves he was placing on the paper until the entire page was covered. Satisfied, he stopped and looked at the large mess on the paper. To anyone else it would have looked like a jumble of random streaks, which it was, but that was the point. Slowly searching through it, Naruto attempted to find a picture within it.

He started to see something. He added a new line here or there, a few dots, and after a while a picture began to form. It was nothing pretty, but it looked something like a room with some small animals, mice?, walking on the ceiling. There was a makeshift table with only three legs and many holes, and a weird polka dot rug floating in midair, and well just a general odd mess.

Not particularly caring about what he had created, Naruto unceremoniously crumpled the paper up and entered the next part of the game. Looking carefully to the waste basket at the other end of the room, he slowly lined up a shot and released the paper. It flew through the air and bounced off the side of the lid before landing on the ground. He was a bit disappointed at his miss, but he didn't dwell on it. Instead he began to construct him next work of art, which upon completion was also sent at the trash can, but also missed. And so his morning went by, the pile of paper around the trash growing.

This was the scene that the nurse came back to as she rolled a man into the room. He was asleep, but the nurse roused him and helped him on the bed across from Naruto. The boy paid them no head and continued to play him little game.

Satisfied that the man would be fine, the nurse made her way out of the room, but stopped at the trash can. Sending a glare at the blond who had created the paper mess, she received the view of him sticking his tongue at her, which she had avoided earlier, along with a paper ball to the face. With a low growl, she bent down and proceeded to collect all of the paper and enter it in the waste bin. The floor now clean, at least until Naruto's newest masterpiece was thrown, the nurse took her leave. The blond looked up to the newcomer, but found he was already asleep. Shrugging, he returned to his game.

A few hours later the door to the room opened once again and the nurse entered. Before her she pushed a cart that contained lunch for the occupants. Moving from bed to bed, she roused those that needed it and simply placed the tray of food before them. She reached Naruto, and placed his tray before him. The blond, thanked the woman as she moved on.

Looking upon his meal, Naruto wasn't sure what to think. It was a soup, with a piece of bread, and a bowl of some sort of fruit. Over his stay in the hospital he had tried a few different soups; some had been quite good, other not so much. But, seeing no reason to psych himself out waiting, he tried his first scoop. Slowly swishing it around in him mouth and then swallowing, he was greeted by a new flavor, but it was nothing special. Then after a few moments the aftertaste set in and it made the young boy cringe. Unfortunately for Naruto, there was no asking for something else, he had already tried that. You were expected to eat what was brought to you and that was that.

Taking a deep breath in preparation, he suddenly began wolfing the soup down, determined to not let the aftertaste set in. It was a bit of a messy affair, but that didn't stop the boy, his sheets would just have to be changed sooner than later.

With the last spoonful of soup down his gullet, he quickly moved on to the bread, which he devoured in a few large bites. Thankfully for the boy, the bread helped stave off the after taste for the most part, which just left him with the bowl of fruit. Ever since he had started to eat fruit, the apple he stole from the grocery store, he had found the taste similar to candy. Both were sugary and sweet, yet one was supposed to be good for your health, while the other wasn't. It was just one of those things he had noticed. And since fruit tasted good, why bother complaining, but here in the Hospital he had been introduced to a whole slew of new ones. There were so many kinds he had come to look forward to trying the various different one every day. And so, even though he didn't recognize the orange cubes in the bowl, he ate them without any caution, unlike the soup.

Having finished his meal with speed, he was allowed to return to his notepad. But instead of doodling on the first page, he instead turned to the last one. There on the last page was a bird's eye layout of the clothes store and surrounding block. Given so much time to himself, he had constructed this model in order to help himself plan his clothes heist. The layout wasn't all that great. The lines weren't straight; he didn't have a straight edge. There were also a few blanks; he didn't remember what all the other areas were. Overall it wasn't great or complete, but he was proud of the start. Covering the layout were arrows indicating his plan and movements as he tried to acquire the orange jumpsuit.

He had decided that it would be the first one that he would do. After which he would begin acquiring his new furniture and so on-

His thoughts were interrupted by a peculiar noise coming from the other side of the room. Looking up, he observed the new patient, who was also done with his meal, shuffling a deck of cards. Seemingly feeling that he was being watched the man looked up and saw Naruto looking over at him. Hold the cards in his hand and waving them at the boy he politely asked, "Wanna play a game?"

For a moment the blond wasn't sure what to say. He hadn't really interacted with any of the other patients in the hospital. Taking a glance at his note pad and then back at the man, he replied, "Why not." Placing the notebook on the stand next to him, having closed it of course, he gingerly got out of bed and pulled up a chair to the other man's bed.

The man chuckled at his reaction, "Now that's the spirit. So, what'ya wanna play?"

Naruto scratched the back of his head out of embarrassment as he responded, "I've never used cards before."

The man was taken aback for a moment before he laughed again. "Don't worry about it. I'll teach you a game called Go-Fish. It's more fun with more than two people, but it's easy to learn." Naruto nodded his head as the man began to deal the cards out, seven to each of them. "Well this first game will just be about you learning. So we each start with seven cards. The objective of the game is to collect pairs of cards." He then pulled two of the cards from out of his hand and placed them down. Naruto saw that they were both fours. "If you have any pairs in your hand lay them down right now." Looking over his hand, Naruto placed a pair of fives and jacks down before returning his attention to the man. "Now, we take turns asking each other for card. You have any eights?"

Naruto looked over his hand, he did have an eight, but wasn't sure how to go about it. "Do I haveta tell you?"

"All you have to do is say yes or no. If you do have an eight then you have to give it to me, if you don't then say so, but you can't lie." The man explained. Nodding his head he handed the eight over and the man took it, putting it down with his own eight.

"Do I go now?" Naruto asked.

"Nope, I go until I get one wrong, you gotta king?" he asked, but Naruto shoot his head. "Well then what I do is draw a card from the deck and then it's your turn."

Over the next hour Naruto was introduced into the ways of Go-Fish. The man he was playing with won every game, but as they continued, the blond was slowing getting closer to winning. Unfortunately, every time he seemed to have the lead the man would go on a massive streak and basically ensure victory for himself.

After losing yet another game for the seemingly twentieth time Naruto was becoming frustrated. "How do you always win!?" he exclaimed.

The man didn't bat an eyelash as he proceeded to shuffle the deck. "Oh don't worry so much about it. It's just that I have years of experience and you are new to this. Plus I know what to do in order to make luck no longer a factor." He replied with a smile.

"Wha… you were cheating?" Naruto shouted at the man.

"Of course. I wanted to win, so I took every advantage I could." He replied evenly, no sympathy whatsoever and began dealing the cards for another game. "I knew exactly what cards were in your hand and what cards were coming up in the deck."

"Well that no fun…" Naruto replied dejectedly and didn't pick up his hand.

"Oh come on, one more game, see if you can figure it out. You know I'm cheating let's see if that changes anything." The man reasoned.

Not having anything else to do, Naruto reluctantly agreed to the man's challenge. And so throughout the next game Naruto watched him very carefully while playing the best he could, but other than a few odd movements he made, the blond was unable to spot him cheating in anyway and lost again.

"So did you see anything?" The man asked.

Naruto shook his head and grumbled, "You kept moving, but never did anything."

"Well you caught on to the first part." He said with a smile and Naruto perked up, "All those motions were distractions. They were there to draw your attention away from what was really going on. Here let me show you a magic trick."

The boy watched with interest as he was given his first lessons in sleight of hand.

**XXX**

****That is that. I hope you enjoyed it. I really wanted to put in a lot of what is going to be motivating Naruto over the next few chapters. Also, for now, his conviction problems have been resolved and he will ruthlessly pursue his own ends(as much as a kid can be ruthless) as he tries to rebuild his life to how it was before the whole incident began. From there, well we'll see what he gets caught up in in the process.****

****I know the part at the beginning in pretty harsh, but I never really see Naruto ever getting much special treatment, not that there are a few things he gets that are special(how many other kids can say they know the village leader and that he visits them in the hospital).****

****Anyways, this one is a bit shorter than my last one, but that's just because I got everything I wanted into this one and wanted the next part to be its own chapter. As I said before, the best chap with see Naruto out of the hospital and into the police station. Depending on how long that is I might start his heist then to, but doubt it.****

****I don't normally work this fast, but I was in the mood and figure that since next week is thanksgiving it would be best to get this out now rather than wait for afterwards.****

****Also the guy at the end of the chapter isn't some random guy that's showing Naruto how to do stuff for the sake of showing him, but that will come up in later chapters.****

****Finally, someone mentioned that my Naruto isn't acting like canon Naruto. I agree, but understand that I have tried to write canon Naruto. I hated it, it wasn't good, and overall I don't ever plan on doing it.****

****If you made it this far then thanks and have a good day.****

****11/23/2014- so for whatever reason the text was all bold again, changed it.****


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